How to make a number piñata! :) And the best birthday gift for a two year old!

SO! I am one of those parents that are in the “we have enough toys, please bring books or give experiences” type of  stages for birthdays or Christmas or any gift-giving holiday. I mean, I want my kids to feel spoiled and ULTRA loved by Grandma and Aunties and everyone, but we have SO MUCH STUFF around our house that gets accumulated over days and weeks. And yes, I do try and declutter as much as possible, but still. It PILES UP! 🙂 Amiright?!?!? Any Mom’s relate?!

SO! When Esther’s 2nd birthday was approaching I didn’t want to just skip the gift from us….but I was feeling conflicted about what to get for her. I wanted to encourage her brother to help with a gift and then it dawned on me…….what kid doesn’t love hitting giant loads of candy from a Piñata?! 🙂 It’s a duel purpose gift….something for everyone to “play” with on the party day, a gift that her big bro could help me make AND it also meant that people could take home some of the candy as they left! 🙂 ANDDDD the whole thing cost under $20 to make…….she loved it and we had SO MUCH fun with it.

SO, today I am sharing with you how to make the number TWO piñata (or any number really) with the supply list and short tutorial! 🙂

The whole thing took me (and Zeke) about an hour-hour and a half. It was pretty quick and Esther just LOVEDDDDDD it (and welp, of course, so did I!) 🙂

Supply list:
2-3 large pieces of cardboard
Tape (duct, packing, or masking would work great)
Glue
Scissors
tissue paper
LOTS of candy
String
optional box cutter or Xacto Knife

• STEP ONE : Draw and cut out your number
  Draw a “bubble number” as big or as little as you’d like it! And remember to make TWO, this will become the front and back. I drew the first one, cut it out and then traced it to the 2nd piece of cardboard. Also cut 2-4 inch “strips” of cardboard that will become the “sides” of the piñata.
• STEP TWO : Tape Piñata together to make it 3-D
  With your tape (we used a combo of duct and packing…both VERY STRONG that it proved many wacks before the kids could get it open), start taping the sides to the front and back number. Cap off the ends, and cover the entire sides of the piñata. Leave an opening at the top of the piñata to fill with candy
• STEP THREE : Fill hole with candy!
  YAY! And pro-tip, fill it early so that you don’t eat all the candy while putting it together. 🙂
• STEP FOUR : Cut out and fringe your tissue
  Fold your tissue in 1/2 or in 1/4 (I just pulled it out of the package and unfolded the width, but kept it creased in length). This just helps so that you aren’t cutting for days! And it also makes the fringe look thicker and more plush! 🙂
  I decided to make “long fringe” strips. I wanted it to look more “shaggy” so I cut strips of tissue about 3 inches in width (you can do 1-1.5 inch width if you want it more “clean” looking). Then I fringed it with the scissors….holding the tissue in your hand snip vertically going down the length of the folded tissue, leaving about 1/2 inch uncut at the top. I cut the fringes about 1/4 in width.
• STEP FIVE : Glue and decorate
  With your strips cut and prepped, start gluing! This is the fun part because you can decorate it in any way you want to. We did chunks of color to color block or ombre the piñata. I drew lines on the piñata of where I wanted the colors to change.
  Start by beading a strip of glue along the top uncut portion of the tissue, and then place it on the piñata! It’s that simple. I started with the front and then kept wrapping the tissue to the sides and back, as I wanted it to be “clean lines” of color change! 🙂
  And as you are getting this covered, I did trim some of the fringe on the sides to make it shorter and hang correctly. So feel free to give your piñata a hair cut as needed! 🙂
• STEP SIX : String, hang and bang open! 🙂
  FUNNNNNN!